Museum honors 'This Land' folk singer

Saturday

May 4, 2013 at 12:01 AMMay 5, 2013 at 9:16 AM

TULSA, Okla. - It took Woody Guthrie's hometown of Okemah more than 30 years after his death to celebrate his life and work with an annual music festival, and signs of acknowledgment in other parts of Oklahoma have been rare.

TULSA, Okla. — It took Woody Guthrie’s hometown of Okemah more than 30 years after his death to celebrate his life and work with an annual music festival, and signs of acknowledgment in other parts of Oklahoma have been rare.

Monuments and exhibits honoring folk great Guthrie, who died in 1967, were scarce as attitudes about his perceived leftist allegiances lasted more than a generation.

But the recent opening of the 12,000-square-foot Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa kicked off a two-day celebration that welcomed the native son home with open arms.

At its heart, the center tells the story of a simple man who loved America and had the courage to stand up to his country when he thought it was veering off course, said Bob Santelli of the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, which will help operate the center.

To illustrate that American story, the center features as its centerpiece Guthrie’s original handwritten version of This Land Is Your Land — perhaps his best-known song.

Inside the center, interactive exhibits await visitors at almost every turn, bringing Guthrie into the digital age.

One exhibit is a multimedia tour of the Dust Bowl, the environmental disaster that wreaked havoc on the Plains in the 1930s and served as the inspiration for his songs.

The Music Bar lets visitors choose a Guthrie song on a computer screen and listen to the selection with headphones.

The displays show Guthrie’s many sides, not just his folk-singer image, archivist Tiffany Colannino said.

“There was Woody the stay-at-home father. .?.?. There was Woody in the military service. .?.?. There was Woody the visual artist.

“We’re pushing at different sides of Woody that maybe have escaped the myth.”

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